hey guys i got a question for all you audiophiles on the board.

I would love to have a box with 2 10 s or so, but i dont got the room cuz of my rstb ... so my bro suggested i go with a free air sub solution and mount it to the rear deck

is this a good idea?
and if it is .. what kinda subs are good for this setup
I was only able to find 2 or 3 subs that could be used for free air

also, this is gonna sound moronic, but how do i kno if i got a bose system or not ... i got the double din headunit, but i seen the exact same headunit with bose on the cassette opening .... so im lost
oh yeah i got a 99 maxima se

thanks for the help

marsh

 

No "BOSE" on HU then you don't have one...

I've got a 10" free air woofer mounted between my two rear speakers... It took me a long time to cut the darn hole (with an airsaw) and then mount a particle board underneath it to which the woofer is secured...

It sounds pretty good and I didn't give up (hardly) any trunk space.

DRAWBACK: If you open the pass thru and any window and/or sunroof, You get a really annoying RESONANCE from the back... VERY LOUD... no joke..

 

I was thinking about somehow getting two 8" under the seats.

 

so uh ... how bad is the resonance. you say its really annoying, but can it still be heard over moderatly loud music?

im only askin cuz i have a bad tendancy to drive with my moon roof up all the time ... so if i do the free air deal and then it drives me crazy imma be pissed

oh and nismo, i love that sig
me ... honda ....
its classic, all you need now is a blinking cop


lates

 

I stated when that it only happens with the (trunk) pass thru open AND windows or moonroof...

Yes it's very annoying no matter how loud you have the speakers... I'm pretty sure it's not a freak occurance...

Has any one else put a FREEAIR on the rear deck and experience this?

 

Not sure exactly where the RSTB goes, but check out the JL Audio Stealthbox... (Picture of it in my signature)

It tucks away in the far rear left of the trunk, made for the 4th Gen Maxima

 

Great subs for free air mounting are Image Dynamics IDW series. They are the competitor's choice for many Iasca installs I've seen using free air setup's.

 

what i would recommend for a free air setup in a maxima is attaching a 3/4" mdf baffle board behind the seats in such a way that the sub is firing thru the ski hole opening. dynamat the metal behind the seat cushion and the board itself and get a good free air sub such as image dynamics, diamond audio m5 or jl audio ib. there are more free-air subs than that , im just speaking off the top of my mind.

 

Also take a look at Focal subs.. they have a couple free-air models that should do pretty well.
for some awesome prices (1/2 price on last year's models) go to www.zalytron.com
and don't buy all their 12s.. I want 4 of em for my next project.

 

Don't forget to seal the rear deck(ditch deck mounted speakers) and the two holes in the rear corners. You will also want to putty around the edges of the metal panel that sits behind the rear seat. And you will have to build a little duct for the trunk lid to pop into. If you really want to seal it/get any benefit of free air subs.

 

I have used infinite baffle subs from OZ Audio and JL Audio, and was never really pleased with the results. To really get the trunk sealed from the passenger compartment takes a lot of work and time, fiberglassing being the most sure way.
On my 98 Maxima I have a Courtesy rear strut tower bar, and had the same problem as you. I turned the bar upside down to maximize the clearance to the pass thru hole. I then constructed a sub enclosure 31 X 8.5 X 12 for my Image Dynamics IDQ 12, which gave me about a cubic foot volume, excluding the driver displacement. I rested the box on top of the strut tower bar, and bolted the box to the sheet metal behind the back seat, using carriage bolts and T-nuts (4). This very solidly couples the sub box to the frame of the car with no rattles. I used some 1.5" thick high density foam to separate the box from the sheet metal to allow for woofer excursion and help prevent rattles. The 12" driver is not exactly centered on the pass thru hole this way, but a majority of the cone is unobstructed, and it looks nice. A single 10" would line up alsmost perfectly. The box takes up almost no trunk space, especially if you use a 10. Basically you build the sealed box to occupy only the 11-12 inches above the RSTB. I think sealed boxes (actually mine is aperiodic using two Dynaudio variovents) sound best in a car and are by far the most flexible to build. They usually give the deepest bass response with control, using the natural gain of the transfer function of the car to compensate for the natural roll-off of a sealed driver, to give a net gain of flat response. Worked well for me, much better than the free air arrangements. To me it is a lot less work with better results to build a sealed box to fit the available space, than the amount of work it takes to really seal a trunk. Good luck, hope this helps.